Barely three years after becoming the first and only road race in Nigeria and the West African sub-region to be awarded a label status by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the annual Okpekpe international 10km road race is set to make another indelible mark.

The event, which holds every May in Okpekpe near Auchi in Edo State, is set to become the first road race in Nigeria to be listed in the calendar of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS), an association of long-distance running races.

Now in its fifth year, the Okpekpe international 10km road race organisers’ desire to join AIMS, an organisation founded in 1982 by race directors of many of the prestigious road races in the world to among other things foster and promote distance running throughout the world and its membership has grown to over 400 in over 100 countries.

According to the Media Officer for the race, Dare Esan, “Pamodzi Sports Marketing, organisers of the Okpekpe race, are desirous of making the race pass all available international tests not only as one of the leading road races in the world but also as the leading road race in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. This greatly informed the decision to become a member of AIMS.”Esan is confident the race will also pass the AIMS test just like it did with the IAAF test.